Western Digital (WD), a leading name in solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs), has ceased the production and sale of SSDs.
The company has fully transitioned its SSD operations to SanDisk, a subsidiary it acquired in 2016 for nearly USD19 billion. This move allows WD to concentrate solely on advancing its hard disk drive technology, according to TechSpot.
WD is now directing its efforts toward emerging opportunities in the HDD market. CEO Irving Tan highlighted the growing demand for HDDs, stating, “As AI accelerates and impacts industries around the world, and as companies generate and store more data, HDD exabyte shipments are expected to increase.”
He emphasised that a significant portion of data managed by cloud service providers—such as cloud-native application data, AI data lakes, media, and machine learning datasets—relies on HDDs for storage.
Meanwhile, SanDisk, which has been managing flash memory-related operations since last year, will continue to produce and sell SSDs. The transition is expected to proceed smoothly, ensuring minimal disruption to SSD production and supply.